A professional criminal has a very different mindset than you and I. Criminals have developed skills that know how to target opportunity!

As a few examples, leave the front door to your home open, the keys to your car in the ignition, throw personal and confidential information in the garbage and don't pick-up papers and packages delivered to the driveway of your home. By doing any one of the acts referenced above you are now a target of opportunity.

There are several ways in which you can reduce your exposure to the criminal element. The first is to routinely learn who they are. You will be surprised!

Run a Criminal Back Ground search. Most Criminal Back Ground searches are comprehensive and will even pull in aliases names. Our property management companies that we deal with throughout the U.S. indicate to us that approximately forty percent of the searches performed return with identity theft issues!

The second most important way to reduce your exposure is to run your credit report. We recommend that you do a tri-merge which pulls in information from all three credit repositories (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). You may also want to subscribe to their credit alert programs.

One final suggestion is that you check your bank accounts and credit cards on a regular basis. If you notice small withdrawals or charges on your accounts it’s usually an indication that someone has access to your information and is testing the waters. Notify your financial institution immediately. They will guide you through the necessary steps to prevent any further theft.